It is known in the art to provide an electrical receptacle having means to lock a male plug when there is electrical continuity between receptacle and plug. The purpose of such receptacles is to render safe their use and to avoid the inconvenience of accidental disconnection of a plug from the receptacle when using, for example, power tools which are carried about a workshop. The alternative is to tie a knot at the connection.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,770, issued to Poulin on May 6, 1986, discloses such a receptacle. However, a potentially dangerous characteristic of this patent is that the fingers or arms (see FIGS. 2 and 5), which are manually displaceable to release the male plug, are electrically energized. The insulating coverts to prevent electric shock to a user may easily fall off with use.